AN ORDINANCE amending SMC 4.04.120 to add an expectation that the Seattle City Council and the Office of Professional Accountability Review Board will jointly host a public hearing on police accountability at least ninety days before the City begins collective bargaining on a new contract with the Seattle Police Officer's Guild or the Seattle Police Management Association or their successor labor organizations.

WHEREAS, RCW 41.56 sets forth the City of Seattle's responsibilities to bargain in good faith with the City's employees and the City respects and honors the collective bargaining process; and

WHEREAS, The mission of the Seattle Police Department is to prevent crime, enforce laws and support quality public safety by delivering respectful, professional and dependable police services; and

WHEREAS, Effective policing depends in part on the public's confidence in the fairness and integrity of the Seattle Police Department and its policing practices; and

WHEREAS, The Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) represents all uniformed members in the Seattle Police Department up to and including sergeants; and

WHEREAS, The Seattle Police Management Association (SPMA) represents all lieutenants and captains in the Seattle Police Department; and

WHEREAS, Seattle has a multilayered police oversight system that includes the Office of Professional Accountability (OPA), the OPA Auditor and the OPA Review Board (OPARB) that all play a role in the City's police accountability system; and

WHEREAS the 2007 Police Accountability Review Panel made 29 recommendations on how Seattle's police accountability system could be strengthened; and

WHEREAS all 29 recommendations have either been negotiated and included in the 2007-2010 collective bargaining agreement between the City and SPOG or legislated in ordinance 122744; and

WHEREAS, Ordinance 122744 recognizes OPARB as the primary liaison to the community and the entity responsible for organizing and conducting public outreach and soliciting public comments on the police accountability system on behalf of the OPA, the OPA Auditor and itself as recommended by the 2007 Police Accountability Review Panel; and

WHEREAS, Recognizing the importance for elected officials to hear directly from the public on the effectiveness of the City's police accountability system in a timely manner, the City Council passed Resolution 30871 providing for a public hearing on the issue of police accountability before the City begins collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the SPOG; and

WHEREAS, elected officials will equally benefit from a public hearing on the effectiveness of the police accountability system before beginning collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the SPMA; and

WHEREAS, the purpose of these hearings is informational only and not to establish the City's position in collective bargaining; and

WHEREAS, the City and the public have a strong interest in the conduct and operation of the police department given its impact on public safety and therefore, the City Council wishes to modify and codify the public hearing requirement embodied in Resolution 30871;

NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF SEATTLE AS FOLLOWS:

Section 1. A new section is added to SMC 4.04.120 as follows:

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F. The City Council and the Office of Professional Accountability Review Board (OPARB) should jointly host a public hearing. The public hearing will be a joint meeting of the Council's Labor Policy and Public Safety, Human Services and Education committees or the successor Council committees with oversight of the City's labor policy and the City's public safety departments. The public hearing will be on the effectiveness of the City's police accountability system and should be held at least ninety (90) days before the City begins collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the Seattle Police Officer's Guild (SPOG) or the Seattle Police Management Association (SPMA) or any successor labor organization. The City's Director of Labor Relations shall inform the Labor Policy Committee and Public Safety, Human Services and Education Committee at least one hundred and eighty (180) days before negotiations begin of the projected date for the start of the negotiations to enable the Council to timely schedule the hearing.

G. The City of Seattle will consider in good faith whether and how to carry forward the interests expressed at the public hearing. Those suggested changes that are legally required to be bargained with the SPOG, SPMA or their successor labor organizations will be considered by the City, in good faith, for inclusion in negotiations but the views expressed in the public hearing will not dictate the city's position during bargaining.

Section 2. The public hearing requirements in Section 1 of this ordinance shall apply to collective bargaining agreement negotiations that commence one hundred and twenty (120) days or more after the effective date of this ordinance.

Section 3. This ordinance shall take effect and be in force thirty (30) days from and after its approval by the Mayor, but if not approved and returned by the Mayor within ten (10) days after presentation, it shall take effect as provided by Municipal Code Section 1.04.020.

Passed by the City Council the ____ day of _________, 20__, and signed by me in open session in authentication of its passage this _____ day of __________, 20__.

_________________________________

President __________of the City Council

Approved by me this ____ day of _________, 20__.

_________________________________

Gregory J. Nickels, Mayor

Filed by me this ____ day of _________, 20__.

____________________________________

City Clerk

(Seal)

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September 8, 2008

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